Door hinge pin removal any options????

DeBordEngineMan

DeBordEngineMan

Senior Member
Hey guys I bought new door mirrors for my 29 tudor now the problem one of the top door hinge pins came right out the other side(driver side) will not turn loose. Talked to a Model A guy today and he said that you would have to heat it first to get it out even with using hinge pin removal tool well I have already painted my car hate like the devil to heat the pin and have to paint the door again I don't have the tool for the hinge pin and "buddy" would not let me borrow his, so I hate to buy the $30.00 tool to use one time for one pin but may have to, any suggestions on how to get it out without tool, thought that I would use masking tape all around pin and grind off top of pin and use punch and drive it out the bottom or drill it out seeing that the replacement pins that came with the mirrors were to big for the hole on the passenger side door, what do you all think? Any thoughts? It is not that I am a cheap skate but hate to buy for a small job that I may never use again. Thanks Robert DeBord
 
I do not think the hinge removal devices work well at all. The pins have probably been in the door hinges for over 80 years and a frozen in. I bought a Bob Drake door pin removal tool a long time ago and tried to use it to remove the door hinge pins in my 28 special coupe. All it did was bend the pin in the tool. I ended up drilling out the pins with successively larger drill bits until I could use a punch to drive them out. Once the pressure is relieved by the hole drilled through the center of the pins, usually the pins can be driven out. You probably want to tape some cardboard to protect the door and paint when you pound on the punch. If you are very careful (keep the drill bit exactly in the center of the pin), drilling them out is probably the best way. You might get a chip or two in the paint, but compared to heating the pin, it is much less damaging to the paint. I would take a sharp pointed punch and make a centering hole in the center of the head to start drilling. You might need a long bit to make sure the hole goes straight down the middle of the pin. Hope this helps.
 
I recently saw somewhere the idea of using a regular c-clamp with a socket on the top and a successively longer bolts on the bottom.
 
I had very bad luck with the home-made removal tool and very good luck with the $30 hinge removal tool, even though it said it was not for my S/W Cabriolet.

I let Kroil saturate it for a week, too.
 
Thanks guys for the suggestions either way drilling, using a homemade removal tool or the "store bought" tool it will not be easy just thought I would see if any body had a easier way of doing if there is such a thing. Thanks everybody I may try to make a tool first then if that doesn't work will drill it out will post how it turns out. Robert DeBord.
 
I saturated mine in WD40 for a few days. Then I was able to tap them out from underneath. They were tight, but not problematic. I had to hit them fairly hard the start them , then they moved without much trouble. Just wanted to say, I used a standard drift punch as a tool
Regards, Terry
 
I have same problem on passenger side, been trying to get some acetone/atf into pin. I wear trifocals so working upside down is difficult. My understanding of the hinge pin is that it is "fatter" on the top. If so, approx how far down does the "fat" part extend, as I will more than likely be drilling down from the top and driving pin down. Car is painted so don't want to use heat. Thanks in advance.
Paul in CT
 
DeBordEngineMan said:
Thanks guys for the suggestions either way drilling, using a homemade removal tool or the "store bought" tool it will not be easy just thought I would see if any body had a easier way of doing if there is such a thing. Thanks everybody I may try to make a tool first then if that doesn't work will drill it out will post how it turns out. Robert DeBord.
Click to expand...

Something to remember when making your own tool or selecting a drift size, is that the original pins (at least the ones on my 29 unrestored coupe) are 15/64ths in diameter. When I measured the oversized pins they were a 1/64th larger at a 1/4 inch.

So a 1/4 drift will just hang up trying to go through the factory sized hinge bore.

That alone may make it worthwhile to buy the tool.
 
Is it possible to remove the screws that hold the hinge in place and remove the entire hinge. Then you can do whats necessary to remove the pin. I did this with my 29 C/C Pk Up. If you damage the paint, then you only need to repaint the hinge and then reinstall it. Iceman
 
Robert...sounds like your "Buddy" ain't such a buddy after all if he won't let you borrow his hinge pin removal tool. Dunno about you, but $30 bucks ain't gonna make or break anyone...I'd buy myself a tool, thumb my nose at my "Buddy"...and then sit back and wait until HE needs some help...

...then I'd just be way too busy to help him. ;)

But...tha's just me....
 
When soaking them in penetrating oil doesn't do the job I drill them out. I purchased two drill bits from Lowes. Stk # Irwin 62112 3/16" dia, 12" long and Irwin 62116 1/4" dia, 12" long. They always do the trick and do not harm the finish. I mask the hinge and the area with painters tape for added protection.
 
All of the suggestions are good. One of my pins on the door hinge just would not come apart original 80+ year old hinge . Soaked in Kroil multiple times, then tap bottom gently. After about a week of continually spraying each day just enough to soak the joints took a good American made 6" C clamp and placed a 1/4" drive socket on the top of the hinge that would just fit over the pin head without inteferrence and started tightening the C Clamp. Pin broke loose and had to put a small metal dowel in after the pin was flush with the bottom of the hinge. Paitence but will come out. Can put some tape over the top of the hinge to prevent scratching paint, but will be covered by mirrow bracket.:)
 
After struggling with the removal of hinge pins on a Fordor I restored, I decided to make a simple tool out of bar stock.

Looking at the pictures you will see a pen pointing to a small relief drilled in the bottom bar. In some cases, the tool has so much strength that it will expand the bottom of the hinge pin. When that happens, I grind the expanded pin off flush with the bottom of the hinge, center punch the pin, and then use a small ball bearing to push the pin out. The ball bearing will stay centered in the relief and center punched hole. Once the bar "bottoms" on the hinge, I then use various grade 8 3/16" aircraft bolts to push the pin all the way out. Gar Williams
 

Attachments

  • 10-6-29 Pin reemoval tool 001.jpg
    10-6-29 Pin reemoval tool 001.jpg
    158.3 KB · Views: 141
  • 10-6-29 Pin reemoval tool 002.jpg
    10-6-29 Pin reemoval tool 002.jpg
    174.1 KB · Views: 117
Last edited:
Hey guys thanks for all the good suggestions I tried many different ways today to see if I could get it out. Success!!!:D I had to soak the pin all day long, thought it would take many times but one day of soaking with BP Blaster was enough I guess. I masked all the surrounding areas with cardboard and masking tape then took grinder:eek: be very careful! and I ground off top of the pin so it was flush with top of hinge, yes it did mess up the top of the hinges finish but a little touch up paint and the new mirror that covers up most of the top hinge anyway and then found center of pin and took a center punch to mark the pin for drilling and it moved a little when I hit it with the center punch to mark it, so I took drift punch and knocked it down from top to bottom then had to drill out the hole for the new bigger diameter pin that came with the mirror as I had to do with passenger side, it was pretty easy with this method(and lucky) also as you grind the pin it concentrates the heat mostly on the pin itself which also helped in removing it I think. I think this method works good and if you are very careful you will have very minimal damage to top of hinge that will cover up anyway, but my car is a driver and it isn't perfect noway, so I can live with a little touch up paint on the top of hinge that you hardly see anyway. Thanks again for all the help guys, Robert DeBord.
 
Congratulation, good news. That's how I plan to do mine BUT I was under the impression pin had to be driven UP because it was slightly larger diameter at the top than bottom. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Hey 1931 Flamingo I did not have any problem with the pin driving out of the bottom it also looked like a original pin it had little splines at the top I guess for gripping the inside of the hole, I replaced two other pins in the passenger door( didn't have to drive out, missing) and the replacements were made this way also, I think that the only difference in diameter of the pins is these splines, so if you drive them down the only damage is to the pin because they just flatten out the splines as you drive them out, I had to drill out bigger anyway for bigger diameter pins that came with my mirrors. I hope this helps maybe someone else can chime in on this because I really don't know. it just worked for me on my car.Robert DeBord
 
When I installed new mirrors, the new pins were also larger than the holes in the hinge. I found that if you just take a very small amount of metal off of the tops of the threads on the pins, the pins will drop in.

My experience, yours my vary.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top